Our take: Amazon's remote working U-turn shows even the tech giants are making it up as they go along

Google, and now Amazon, have scrapped their limitations on flexible working, showing that the industry hasn’t yet made up its mind on what role WFH will play

Companies that generate billions in revenue each year, that have developed some of the world's most ground-breaking tech, and employ some of the best talent on the planet, will surely have the answer to a simple question like ‘How many days do you want me in the office?' right?

What has proved to be the case over the last few months is that no one in tech has really made up their mind, or has a definitive answer, as to what their long-term work from home policy will be once Covid restrictions are lifted.

Companies know that their staff want some form of working flexibility in the long-term, but they also know that problems are solved faster, ideas are brainstormed more effectively, and new clients are more likely to work with you if you meet face to face.

The answer is alluding even tech's largest players. A couple of months ago Google and Amazon told staff they would return to an "office-centric" work culture with the former even limiting flexible working to just 14 days a year.

But over the last month or so, both tech giants have seemingly changed their mind and adopted a more relaxed approach.

At the beginning of May, Google CEO Sundar Pichai scrapped the limitations on flexible working, and is now claiming that 60 per cent of Googlers will only be on site "a few days a week", with 20 per cent working from new office locations and 20 per cent working from home.

Amazon has now come out with a similar arrangement. In a memo sent to employees, the firm said on Thursday that it expects staff to work in the office three days a week, permitting them to work remotely up to two days per week.

Both organisations have also said that some staff are now able to work "fully remotely" for up to four weeks per year.

Meanwhile other tech titans such as Facebook and Salesforce have swayed towards remote working as of late. Salesforce CEO Benioff told CNBC that somewhere between 50 to 60 per cent of staff will work from home post-Covid, up by about 20 per cent prior to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Apple has begun to instruct its staff to return to the office at least three days a week from September, claiming that there's a limit to what can be accomplished through video calls and remote collaboration.

What does this all tell us? Over the last few weeks, tech giants have all begun to accept remote working as a permanent component in their culture. No one seems to be demanding a four or five-day working week anymore, with many claiming that two or three days in the office is the expectation for the long term.

But even tech giants are still figuring out the right policy for them when it comes to remote working. There's no doubt that in 2021 and beyond, Amazon, Google and others will change their flexible working policies yet again according to how popular they are with employees as well as how effective they turn out to be from a performance standpoint.

There still seems to be some disagreement among the channel community about how far remote working should go in the future, with many business leaders stuck between acknowledging the value of face-to-face interaction but also knowing that an element of remote working will be inevitable.

If you're still a little bit unsure about what your long-term policy will look like, at least you can take solace in the fact that the CEOs of Apple, Google, Amazon and Salesforce are feeling the same way.